Nothing Can Be Changed
by lyricallylily
Summary: Despite everything that they have thought about the other for the past six years, Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy are forced into a situation where they just may find out exactly how wrong their judgments about each other really are.


**Author's Note**:  This is the second fic that I am currently working on, so I am warning that it will probably start off slow until my spring semester ends, then speed up once college is done for the year.  I'm in love with this fic, so I hope that everyone else will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it!  Sorry that the first chapter is so short, but I guarantee you that they will get longer.

**Disclaimer**:  The characters are not mine, they're JK Rowling's.  Only the plot belongs to me, though I wish otherwise sometimes!!

Chapter One – First Day of the Rest of Her Life 

Hermione Granger sighed, switching from a sitting position on her bed to one where she was laying flat on her back, panting.  She'd just finished her daily run, a routine that she'd started her day with since the summer before her sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.  Her caramel colored hair was swept into a neat ponytail, and the few tendrils that had escaped during the run were now glued to her neck and forehead with sweat.  She pushed them aside as she sat up to get ready for a shower.  Looking in the mirror as she stripped off her shirt, she surveyed herself.  

The blue sports bra hugged her curves; she'd developed quite a womanly figure thanks to the good genes of her mother.  Slightly defined abs came under surveillance next, and she smiled as she toyed with her navel ring for a moment.  It was the one thing that she had to hide from her parents; she'd heard enough of what they had to say about body jewelry whenever someone came in for a dentist appointment with a tongue ring.  She certainly did not want to hear what they would have to say about a navel ring occupying the body of their only child.  

Hermione shed the rest of her clothing and walked into the bathroom that connected her room to the guest bedroom of the house.  Being that the Grangers did not often have houseguests, she liked to claim it as her own, and had decorated it as if it were.  It matched her bedroom perfectly; the yellow walls of her bedroom matched the ceramic tiles of the bathroom, and she had candles and various knick-knacks on every surface.  She turned on the showerhead and checked the temperature before stepping into the hot spray.  Warm water traced its way down her body as she used a combination of wizard and muggle products to cleanse herself – the muggle shampoo was the only thing that could control her hair nowadays, but the wizard soap smelled so much better than ordinary soaps did.

Quickly rinsing the conditioner out of her hair, she turned off the shower and grabbed two towels – one for her hair, one for  her body.  She checked her clock as she walked back into her room.  It read "Just a bit early" and she smiled.  She wanted time to get ready for her last trip to Platform 9 ¾ as a student.  She wouldn't be just any student, either: she was Hogwarts' newest Head Girl.  With this thought on her mind, she quickly applied a little muggle make up to her tanned face.  She'd developed quite a dark tan over the course of the summer from running and swimming outside.  A little eyeliner, mascara, and blush later, Hermione was satisfied and she slipped into lowrider blue jeans and a white tank top from a store in America called American Eagle.  Her cousin from New York had sent the outfit as a gift for her last birthday, and Hermione loved both articles of clothing.  The shirt was completely feminine and showed off the delicate curve of her shoulders as well as her womanly curves, and the jeans rode low enough on her hips to show about an inch of her stomach.  It was her favorite outfit, plus it would be comfortable enough to travel in.  Unlike a lot of students that attended Hogwarts, she didn't care what others thought when she wore muggle clothes; everyone in the school already knew she was muggle-born anyway.

After quickly blow drying and straightening her hair, she was ready.  She placed her hair dryer under the sink in her bathroom; once she got back to Hogwarts she'd be able to style her hair by using charms and spells.  Taking one last look in the mirror to be sure she was satisfied with her appearance, she headed downstairs to the kitchen to eat some breakfast before leaving.  Her father was already seated at the table, drinking coffee and reading the newspaper, while her mother was at the stove.  She was undoubtedly making Hermione her favorite French toast before she left for school again, as she had every year previous.  Hermione loved that her parents were so predictable.  

"Morning, Mum.  Morning, Dad," she said, sliding into a seat at the snack bar so she could put her sandals on.

"Morning, dear," both of her parents replied at the same time.  

Her mother continued, "Here's your breakfast, eat up so we can get to the platform early."  She placed a plate in front of her daughter as she spoke, filled high with French toast and sausage.  "We promised Ron's and Ginny's parents that we'd take them around muggle London for a bit after the train leaves."

Hermione nodded, already with a full mouth.  She remembered the agreement that her parents had made with Molly and Arthur Weasley the previous weekend at Diagon Alley when the students were getting their books.  Mr. Weasley was as obsessed with muggles as ever, greatly to the annoyance of Percy.  He had let them know several times that "Minister Fudge believes muggles to be simply uninteresting" and that they were not worth researching.  Hermione and her parents were not offended, but found the situation rather humorous that the head of the wizarding community would find the other side of the population to be completely worthless.  Mr. and Mrs. Granger had gladly offered a tour to show Arthur and Molly around London for a day, in exchange for a few explanations about what Hermione could do in the wizarding world after she graduated from Hogwarts.  

Hermione winced as she hit a sensitive topic in her mind.  She had told her parents several times that she already knew what she wanted to do after school – she wanted to either enter the Ministry of Magic, as Percy had, or become an Auror like Harry and Ron were going to do.  She was already more than qualified for both things, but her parents had refused to believe that those were her only options.  No matter how much their daughter had told them that she knew that there were other jobs out there, they wouldn't listen to her about what she wanted to do.  Her father was very adamant about "knowing all the options" that were available to her, but she had an inkling that he was waiting to find out if there were wizard dentists.  It drove Hermione crazy, with her parents not trusting her decisions about this.  She was a responsible person, and she couldn't figure out why her parents couldn't trust her on this.  

Glancing at the clock, she stood up and reminded her parents to get ready to go.  She wanted to be on time for the train, as she thought the Head students should be.  Plus, she wanted to find out who got the position of Head Boy – she was greatly disappointed when it hadn't been Harry Potter, the other Gryffindor prefect from the previous year.  As the position was only offered to those who had previously been prefects, Hermione didn't like the other options very much.  She quickly ran up the stairs to her room and grabbed her carry-on bag for the ride, since her father had just taken her trunk down to their car.  Looking around her room quickly to make sure she didn't leave anything behind, she bit her lip.  The next time she would be in her room, she would be a fully qualified witch.  That thought put a smile on her face, and she shut her door and walked down the stairs.  She was ready for another year to begin at Hogwarts.  

Platform 9 ¾ was as crowded as ever.  Carts were being pushed towards the train, trolleys were on the verge of tipping over, owls and cats hooted and howled from their cages, and there were excited yells of classmates eager to see each other after a long summer.  It didn't take Hermione long to find her friends though, as she caught sight of a few flashes of red out of the corner of her eye as soon as she crossed through the barrier to the platform.  Making sure that her parents safely made it through, she began walking towards the redheads who hadn't spotted her yet.  

"Well, well, well," a snide voice interrupted her hurry, and she turned towards the familiar drawl as it finished the sentence, "looks like Granger here brought her little muggle parents along.  How cute." 

Hermione's eyes narrowed a bit as she shot a glare at the familiar nemesis, Draco Malfoy.  Not surprisingly, it appeared that he was wearing black designer pants and an obviously new robe, but it was his face that actually kept her attention for a moment.  His white blond hair had grown out a little, and it loosely brushed around his eyebrows, missing the gel that usually held it in place.  His sharp cheekbones showed in the sneer he directed at her, but the expression was a sheer contradiction to what his eyes showed - indifference.  She couldn't stop looking at his silvery-blue eyes, and he defiantly stared back.

"Like something  you see, Granger?" he quietly asked, stepping towards her without breaking her gaze.  

It was only when he was mere inches away did she blink and falter a bit.  "You wish, Malfoy," she said as she quickly turned around, letting her hair whip him in the face as she walked away.  Ginny saw her and squealed, opening her arms in the beginning of a welcome hug.

Ginny was saying something, Hermione knew, but she couldn't concentrate on answering her back.  All she could think about was the difference in Malfoy's eyes from what they used to be – offending pools of dark, stormy silver gray.  Now, they were light, bright blue with only a hint of silver mixed in, totally opposite of what they usually were when he looked in her direction.  

A few feet away, Draco was in the same position, oddly thinking about the scent of the hair that had just brushed his face.  A questioning look came over his features until he uttered a single word.

"Strawberries."

Hermione shook out of her trance as she talked more to Ginny about the summer, and she saw that her parents were speaking animatedly with Mr. Weasley, while Mrs. Weasley was sniffling and blowing her nose.  From where she was standing, she heard her talking about three of her babies going into their last year.  Hermione smiled at this; it really was sweet that Molly considered herself and Harry to be like her own children.

Just then, a pair of arms circled themselves around her waist, and she tensed momentarily before recognizing the scent of Harry's aftershave.  She smiled and turned into his embrace, hugging the strong boy after not seeing him for several months.  The last time she'd seen him had been when Sirius had picked him up at the end of the school year, and at the time he had been incredibly enthusiastic about getting to live with his godfather, whose name had been cleared.  It looked as though the summer had been good to him, as he stood nearly a foot taller than her now, and looked a lot healthier than she ever remembered seeing him.  

"And to think that you used to be taller than me," he chuckled into her ear as she felt his arms tighten around her before he picked her up to hug her closer.  She laughed as he set her back down. 

  
"I missed you, too," she said.  She got a grin in return before he turned towards Ginny, his girlfriend for over a year now.  She caught the look on Ron's face as he watched his best friend kiss his little sister, and she laughed to herself before walking over to him and hugging him, as well.  Ron never had gotten used to Harry's and Ginny's relationship, he just accepted the fact that he couldn't really do anything about it.  Of course, it did make for some awkward moments when he and Harry were discussing girls, but for the main part, Ron took it well.  

"Let's go get a compartment," someone suggested, and all of them agreed.  Hermione quickly hugged her parents good-bye, as well as Sirius and the Weasley parents, and she followed behind Harry and Ginny on the way to the train.  She felt a prickling sensation as she hoisted her bag on her shoulder, like someone was looking at her.  She discretely looked to her right, then left, but didn't see anyone even glancing in her direction.  She was about to write herself off as crazy when she looked up at the train windows, and her brown eyes met a silvery-blue gaze set firmly upon her.

"Draco Malfoy," she whispered, but as soon as she blinked, the gaze was gone.  


End file.
